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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Afar of Eritrea

The Afar of Eritrea, numbering approximately 356,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are described as a Custhitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the Horn of Africa They are an Indigenous people, with Afar as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Afar-Saho people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Afar.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Afar

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Eritrea
People Cluster: Afar-Saho
Primary Language(s): Afar (aar)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 356,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011517
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Pray for the Afar of Eritrea

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Afar
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%

Media Resources in Afar:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Afar:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Afar bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Afar:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Afar are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Afar:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Afar are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Afar:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Afar of Eritrea

And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
readMark 14:23-24

Pray for those who may have heard the gospel but have not yet submitted their lives to Christ, that they will finally see the sacrifice which He made for them and surrender their lives to Him.

Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
readIsaiah 55:5

Pray that those who do not know God will access the gospel, run to Him, and discover that He is the one their souls have been longing for.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 6:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will lay down all evil desires, dying to sin and living for Him alone.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
readJohn 1:12

Pray that believers will have the opportunity to clearly share the good news with the lost here, so that all people can be invited to trust in Jesus and become children of God.

Afar Across Countries (ROP3 - 102419) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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